Unique solar program helps non-profits go solar

SHORT HILLS, N.J. – Geoscape Solar has announced a unique financing program called “Sun For All” which extends the company’s existing financing solutions for non-profits and religious institutions by adding elements that help them reap the many benefits of solar energy.

With this program, all types of non-profit institutions can save 50 percent over the utility cost of electricity generated by a solar energy system and can also earn valuable Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs).

According to Geoscape, for a modest-sized installation, the program can generate more than $500,000 of income over 25 years.

New Jersey offers Solar Renewable Energy Credits

Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) represent all the clean energy benefits of electricity generated from a solar energy system. SRECs can be sold or traded separately from the power, providing owners a source of revenue to help offset the cost of installation. All solar project owners in New Jersey with electric distribution grid-connected systems are eligible to generate SRECs. Each time a system generates 1,000 kWh of electricity an SREC is earned and placed in the customer’s account on the web-based SREC tracking system.

The Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) Registration Program (SRP) is used to register the intent to install non-rebated solar projects in New Jersey. Registration of the intent to participate in NJ’s solar marketplace provides market participants with information about the pipeline of anticipated new solar capacity and insight into future SREC pricing. To learn more about SRECs and how they are generated visit the SREC Registration Program page.–Source: New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program Web Site

The Sun For All program offers a breakthrough in solar financing by allowing the non-profit and its members to team up and share in the powerful financial rewards of solar ownership. To accomplish this, the organization’s members lend approximately 60 percent of the purchase price of the system, while Geoscape Solar funds the remaining 40 percent. Federal tax credits, SRECs and discounted electricity payments from the non-profit are used to repay the benefactors and Geoscape Solar. After 10 years, the benefactors will have been repaid with interest and the non-profit will get the SRECs for five more years.

“Now, members can do well by doing good – benefiting both their favorite non-profit and the environment,” said Jeffrey Chavkin, president and co-founder of Geoscape Solar.

While many environmentally inclined and cost-conscious organizations would like to switch to solar energy, the federal incentives that make it feasible are limited to federal taxpayers. Without these incentives, the cost of solar can be prohibitive. Geoscape Solar’s Sun For All program makes solar financially compelling for all houses of worship and non-profits in New Jersey.

Non-profits can keep SRECs“No other program allows non-profits to capture so much of the solar energy savings,” said Chavkin. “And, no other program allows them to keep the income from New Jersey’s valuable SRECs.”

While members help their charities save on operating costs and save the planet, they also earn a return on an investment. Those benefactors who wish to give even more can donate any of their investment income back to the charity.

“We are extremely interested in this program because it substantially reduces energy costs from day one,” said Rabbi Mendel Solomon, director of the Rabbinical College of America, which is located in Morristown, New Jersey. “It gives our benefactors an opportunity to get involved in a unique way that benefits the school and the environment, while simultaneously paying them a return on their investment. Going solar this way is a win-win for everyone.”

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About The Author

Christof Demont-Heinrich is founder, creator and editor of SolarChargedDriving.Com, which he launched in September 2009. A journalism professor at the University of Denver (DU), Demont-Heinrich is a lifelong environmentalist who loves to bird, hike, camp, and bike. As passionate as he is about the environment -- and about promoting the synergy between solar power and electric cars, he is equally passionate about writing.